Twin Tributes
by otherrealmwriter
Summary: After a fight with Blendin's Tape Measure Time Machine, Dipper and Mabel are sent to the future and District 7 in Panem. Soon Mabel is Reaped for the Games and Dipper voluenteers to go in to protect her. Will they get back home or have to fight to the death?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Gravity Falls or The Hunger Games series okay? I know it may not seem like a typical crossover, but I had to give it a try. It starts out in episode 9, "The Time Traveler's Pig" and I hope you guys like it and I keep things well crossed together. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"Gimmie that!" Mabel said jumping at Dipper. "I need to get Waddles back! Pacifica won't treat him right!"

"No!" Dipper said holding the tape measure time machine out of her reach. "Do you really want Robbie to date Wendy?!"

"I don't care!" Mabel said. "Waddles was my soul mate!"

"You said that about a ball of yarn once!" Dipper said looking down at her from atop a totem pole. "Wendy is my soul mate! I can't lose her to Robbie. Aren't you the one who kept telling me to just go for it with her?"

Mabel had heard enough. She had to give up her soul mate Waddles so Dipper could be happy with Wendy. Now he was basically telling her that it was more important that he date Wendy than for Mabel to be friends with Waddles. It was something that Mabel did not want to say, in fear of hurting his feelings, but Mabel thought that at best Wendy saw Dipper as a friend and nothing more. She climbed atop the totem pole and grabbed ahold of the top of the tape measure and jumped down to the bottom of the pole.

"Don't let go Mabel!" Dipper yelled, seeing how much tape she had pulled.

"I'm going to do it!" Mabel yelled. She could not forgive Dipper for making her lose Waddles. She had nothing against helping Dipper but she could have just as easily won Waddles and then helped him win the stuffed creature for Wendy. Everyone would have been happy.

"Don't!" Dipper pleaded. He jumped down trying to catch the tape measure.

"Too late…" Mabel said letting go of the tape measure. A bright flash appeared, taking Dipper and Mabel forward in time to the future.

The next thing that Dipper and Mabel knew, they were about 250 years in the future. "When are we?" He asked.

"Whenever it is, you are not dating Wendy." Mabel said with an angry sulk sitting down on a rock.

Dipper just ignored Mabel's anger towards him, knowing deep down that he partially deserved some of her rage towards him and looked around for some clues as to when they were in time. It looked like a future version of Gravity Falls, judging by the trees. "That totem pole is really weathered…" Dipper said aloud. "Well, let's see if we can find the Shack, Mabel."

"Fine. Seems as good an idea as any." Mabel said. The path to the Mystery Shack looked a lot like it normally did to the sides of the pathway. Dipper looked down and saw that since they had traveled forward in time that the trail was no longer just an old dirt pathway; someone had laid down a brick pathway. However, that seemed to be a while before they arrived because there was moss growing in between the mortar and the cracks in the brick. It almost reminded Dipper of seeing a brick roadway that had been laid down nearly 200 years before. Things were not quite right. Dipper knew that they had traveled in time but how far, he was not sure. He looked down at the tape measure and flicked the forward/reverse switch back and forth, and a feeling of dread fell over him. Something was telling him that the time machine was broken.

"I think we have a problem Mabel…" Dipper said looking at the tape measure time machine.

"Yeah, I don't remember the Shack being so nice looking…" Mabel said pointing up at the new and improved Mystery Shack.

Dipper looked up and saw the Mystery Shack was no longer a dilated rustic tourist trap with the "S" in shack falling down in the slightest breeze, but it was now a brick two story building with an elegant sign out front where "Mystery Shack est. 1990" was carved into the painted wood. A small banner that read, "Now celebrating 250 years" was nailed to the wood. Dipper looked at the flag pole and knew that there was something wrong; they were two flags different than what he knew. Stan had put the American flag and the flag of the state of Oregon below the American flag. However, there was a flag of this new nation called Panem where the United States flag was and where the Oregon state flag was, there was a flag that said District 7 on it.

"I think we are not in Oregon anymore, or it's not called Oregon anymore…" Dipper said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mabel asked.

"Look at those flags, last we knew them, they were flags of the United States and of Oregon." Dipper explained.

"Panem?" Mabel read. "District 7?" She looked from the flags back to the new and improved Shack. "You notice how much the Shack has actually improved over the years?"

"Yeah." Dipper said. "Let's go in and see if we can find some help."

Dipper and Mabel walked into the Shack hearing a pleasant ring behind them. The Shack had the old theme of mysterious phenomenon with the old standbys like "Rock That Looks like a Face Rock" and the "Sascrotch" and many new items from the last time they were in the Mystery Shack. However there first story was now a gift shop with half of the space devoted to the history of the Mystery Shack and its involvement in the Rebellion that created the Hunger Games and how it served the Gravity Falls community in all the times of hardship in its life. Dipper and Mabel looked at the wall with wonder. It was nearly 250 years of newspaper clippings pertaining to the Shack.

"Dipper…look!" Mabel said pointing to an article about their disappearance. "Grunkle Stan actually offered a hefty reward for information about our 'disappearance' He really did care."

"Wow." Dipper said. He had known his Great Uncle to be a cheap skinflint of a man that would have him dress up like a wolf-boy to make a buck. He never imagined that Stan would offer as much as the article said he did. He read on in some of the articles. "Looks like after Grunkle Stan passed Soos and Wendy took over."

Overhearing this, the current owner came over to them. "Yeah, Wendy Corduroy was my ancestor. In keeping to the girl power tradition she passed her name on the family line. The Mystery Shack has been in the Corduroy family for nearly 3 centur-OH MY GOD!" A 30 year old red-headed woman yelled. Running to the windows to close the curtains so no one would see, she ran back over to Dipper and Mabel and whispered, "You are Dipper and Mabel Pines right? Founder Stan Pines' great niece and nephew, correct?"

"Yeah." Dipper and Mabel said.

"So Soos's weird theory was right…" the woman said.

"Why would you think we would still be alive?" Dipper asked. "What theory are you talking about? Who are you?"

"I'm Sequoia Corduroy, Wendy Corduroy's descendant. Okay, to answer your questions, Soos theorized you two were captured and taken forward in time by as he said, 'Some paranormal thingum'." She said.

"Well he was right." Mabel said. "Only our paranormal thingum is broken now."

"We'll get to what I can do about that but I have to fill you in on the past 250 years." Sequoia said. "And like you read, Stan Pines passed on; he left the Shack to Wendy who kept it in her family. Soon after Stan's death, America collapsed and eventually reformed after years of civil war as the nation of Panem. Luckily my great-great grandmother was able to keep this place from being destroyed by the Capitol because she used this place as an emergency hospital until the country could be rebuilt. We will be busy again in a few weeks though…" Sequoia added on as an afterthought.

"Why? Some holiday?" Mabel asked hoping it would be a fun celebration like Summerween.

"You could say that in a bizarre way…" Sequoia said. "It will be the Reaping; where District 7's Tributes for the Hunger Games will be chosen. How old are you two again?"

"Twelve." Dipper and Mabel said.

"Oh god no…" Sequoia said, entering a panicky state that was out of pace with her usual self. She placed her face in her hands. "…I lost my little sister in the Games… well that was before our new mentors but still…against Careers…."

"What is wrong? What are you talking about?" Dipper asked weirded out.

"Twelve is the youngest age someone can be Reaped in the Hunger Games. Your odds will be slim; you are 12 years old and will only have one entry and you won't need to sign up for tesserae as I make enough money to support you two. I can't hide you though. You will be seen as cousins of mine I have to take care of, but Mayor Raul Northwest is really strict and Head Peacekeeper Delilah Gleeful will make sure to it that all 12 year olds are entered. She hates the Corduroy family after Gideon Gleeful, her ancestor failed to get the Shack after Stan died." Sequoia said.

"What are the Hunger Games?" Mabel asked in fear. She could tell by the way Sequoia was talking after she mentioned it that whatever it was, it could not be good.

"A fight to the death that only one Tribute in Panem can win. One boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts in Panem are entered and they have to fight each other until one is left alive." Sequoia said.

"Give me that time machine!" Mabel panicked. She took the tape measure from Dipper and pulled it to a matching length before they went back in time and pressed the reverse button. She let go with a deep look of apology to Dipper on her face. The end of the tape measure went back into the time machine. Mabel stared at it with bated breath, but nothing happened. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Oh don't worry." Sequoia said. "I have some friends in District 3 who are technology experts who help me make my exhibits. We will get this fixed by this time next year at least. Besides the odds are that neither of you will be picked. I mean you would have only one entry and many of the kids in District 7 have on average about 36 entries."

Mabel sat down and looked upon the wax model of Grunkle Stan that she had made so long ago. Someone had put the head back on it seemed. She pulled her sweater over her head and entered "Sweatertown". She was as guilty as Dipper was when it came to them being in the mess they were in. If she hadn't gotten so angry and irrational, they would not be 250 years in the future praying their luck would hold out and Sequoia's friends in District 3, or what they knew in their time as Silicon Valley, could fix something from the year 207012. Dipper came and sat down beside Mabel and gave her a hug. At the feeling of her brother's affection, she began to cry. "I'm sorry Dipper."

"I should be sorry." Dipper said. "I wanted to impress Wendy so much that I never thought of your feelings. Waddles may have been a pig but I should have seen that he meant so much more to you."

"Well, like Sequoia said, we will only have one entry each in thousands of entries. There are many more kids in District 7, and the older kids do have more entries…" Mabel said poking her head out of Sweatertown, trying to comfort herself and Dipper.

"That's true Mabel." Dipper said giving Mabel a hug. "Sequoia is also going to show us how to handle axes like many of the other kids our age here. Just in case."

"That's good." Mabel said; fear still strong in her voice.

"Let's see what became of our old room huh?" Dipper suggested leading Mabel from the museum part of the Mystery Shack to the gift shop counter where Sequoia was finishing the day's tally.

"I overheard you two talking and Stan's old house is structurally how he left it. Wendy just loved the windows." Sequoia said pointing them up the way.

Dipper and Mabel walked the familiar steps up to their old bedroom. Apparently, the owners of the Shack after Stan didn't make the house a marvel of decorative beauty but kept its old rustic charm with slight updates for the times. The doorknob had a thick layer of dust on it that Mabel brushed off as she turned the knob. On the beds were notes and notes of information as to where Dipper and Mabel might have been. It was this that made them realize that while he didn't show it; they were his whole world and he dedicated his remaining days to trying to find them. Dipper headed over to the bookcase to find that the old book he had with him with the number three in the hand was still on the bookshelf. He kicked it down and opened it trying to find if there was a supernatural way for them to get home before the Reaping. Mabel just moved the notes on her bed, curled up and went to sleep.

Over the next few weeks, Sequoia taught Dipper and Mabel the finer arts of lumberjacking that could be applied to the Games if they were chosen. While Dipper could barely get ahold of the ax properly, Mabel seemed like (Much to Dipper's surprise and fear) to have a natural ability to throw axes accurately with a force that did not seem to match her size. Dipper just kept to reading his book trying to find any answers he could before the Reaping. The days and weeks seemed to pass by faster than any of them had ever known. When you are dreading something, it seems that time has a way of going at just the speed you don't need. Soon the day of the Reaping came, and all of District 7 was required to show up at the Justice Building. Sequoia led them along with a stern look on her face. Just like Dipper and Mabel, she kept reassuring herself that the odds were against them and that they were safe. Dipper and Mabel were escorted to the back of the crowd of girls and boys. Dipper kept a tough yet stern face on, that showed a few cracks of fear but Mabel could not take it anymore. She was crying and fear coming out of every pore of her body. She had never felt so alone in her life. She was separated from her twin brother when she needed him the most. Not caring how the other girls looked at her, Mabel sat down and rocked back and forth pulling her sweater above her knees.

"It'll be okay." A blonde girl said putting her hand on Mabel's shoulder.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Maple Northwest, the mayor's daughter. It's my 12th birthday, so I am entered. You only have one entry right?" Maple said.

"Yes…" Mabel said. "Your name sounds like mine. Mabel, Maple." She laughed for the first time in weeks.

"My sister Hemlock is 18 and has more chance than we do. I saved my allowance so I can send her sponsors if she gets picked." Maple said.

"That's sweet." Mabel said. "You any relation to Pacifica Northwest?"

"Yeah, she was my ancestor." Maple said.

"Well you are nothing like her." Mabel said. "I read she was a jerk." She added. Sequoia had warned them not to speak of the fact they were from the past. "I am worried for my twin brother Dipper though, the other boys will mess him up."

"Does he have as many entries as you?" Maple asked.

"Yes." Mabel said.

"Then there is little to worry about. The older boys actually volunteer for this some years." Maple said.

Maple Northwest's father Raul stepped up on stage while Delilah Gleeful, the head Peacekeeper for District 7 looked over with a stern look on her face. A tomboyish girl looked over the crowd with disdain. She was a previous Victor named Johanna Mason and was there to help the new Tributes get the hang of the games and the Capitol showmanship so they could get more and more sponsors. This was her first year of being a Mentor and she did not look like she wanted the job at all. The clock, which in District 7 was a carved Redwood tree with a clock in it, bong 2 and the Reaping was to begin. Mayor Raul Northwest began a speech about the history of the Games and Panem and a brief explanation of the rules of the Games.

"It is a time for both repentance and thanks." The Mayor said. "Now let's celebrate last year's Victor and new District 7 Mentor, Johanna Mason!" Johanna waved politely and sat back down. "Now give a round of applause to District 7's guide, "Muffie Stuffins!" and a woman with a pine tree for hair got up and waved.

"Happy Hunger Games!" Muffie said. "Now let us get to it, and choose this year's Tributes." She walked over to a bowl with names of the girls of District 7 in them, "And as tradition says, ladies first." She put her hand in the bowl as her fake plastic nails that looked more like pine cones than fingernails dug deep and shuffled around until she had one name. "Oooooooh, this is a cute name. Mabel Pines!"

"Damnit!" Sequoia yelled at the top of her lungs. A few of the adults looked back at her, but just assumed she lost a bet on who would be the female Tribute.

Mabel gulped. Just as she was making friends, she is called to fight. She stood frozen in place when Maple Northwest whispered to her, "You have to go on stage. Don't worry; I'll use mine and my sister's savings to send you the best gifts in the arena."

"Thank you." Mabel said as he legs moved almost automatically up towards the stage as she looked around in fear, with all the teenagers of District 7 staring at her Dipper shoved his way to the front of the lines of boys calling her name.

"Mabel! Mabel!" Dipper said. He knew he was going to have to go into the arena, if for no other reason to make sure Mabel was able to make it out of the Games alive. If she could, she could get the time machine fixed, go back and then stop the fight from happening in the first place. However he had only one entry and knew that the odds were against him to be picked.

"Can a guy volunteer to go in?" Dipper asked the nearest boy.

"Yeah. Why you would want to though, I don't know." He said.

"Don't worry girl, I'll tell you how to make it. You remind me of me last year." Johanna whispered when Mabel climbed the stage.

"Now that the girl Tribute is here, time to pick the boy's!" Muffie said, but before she could put her pine cone nails in the bowl, Dipper jumped out of the line and called out to her.

"Hey! Creepy tree lady!" Dipper said as Delilah Gleeful pointed her gun at him. Ignoring the threatening descendant of Gideon Gleeful, he went on. "I, Dipper Pines volunteer to be the male Tribute with my sister!"

"Well, doesn't this make things interesting..." Raul Northwest said.

**Well how was that? Good? Bad? An annoying cliffhanger? Let me know in a review. I cannot say that the next chapters will be this long, but you had to know how they get there, so that would make things longer. Anyway, I am working on some of my other stories now but if I find people really like this I will put this up sooner. In the meantime why not check out some of my other stories. I have a few Gravity Falls and a few Hunger Games oneshots as well as many other fics. Well shameless self-promotion aside, remember to read, (well you just did) and review. Ciao for now**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Gravity Falls or the Hunger Games series okay? I am glad to see the response I am getting from all of you readers out there. I was surprised that no one had done this before, but I guess I had to. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Dipper and Mabel were led up by a guard of Peacekeepers with Delilah tapping each of them on the back with her gun. It seemed that she knew something about the true reason Dipper and Mabel were in the future. She seemed to suspect that they were not really Sequoia's orphaned cousins but the actual missing Dipper and Mabel Pines. The Gleeful family always had a grudge against the Corduroy clan for being the recipients of the Mystery Shack after Stan's death. In fact Dipper was certain she was trying to plot a way to prove who they were, but he knew there was no way for her to prove it. She would need DNA and Stan had orders to have his body cremated and sent along with the salmon into the ocean. So she could not get DNA evidence and then prove her case. Even if she had it, it seemed too fantastic to believe.

"Okay you two, let's go!" Delilah said. She opened the door to the elevator. Making sure there was no one listening, she bent down and whispered, "I know you two are the real Dipper and Mabel Pines, the great niece and nephew of Stanford Pines. I may not be able to prove it, nor would it really work anyway as Sequoia's family has had the Shack in their possession for over 200 years now. But for denying Gideon his chance at the Shack 250 years ago, I hope you two have hell in that arena."

"Okay…" Dipper said walking into the corner of the elevator.

"Well Mabel, you wouldn't be a Tribute sending your brother to his death if you were Gideon's queen like you should have." Delilah said.

"Your family sure holds a grudge…" Mabel said with a deep note of fear.

"And don't you two brats forget it." Delilah said pushing Dipper and Mabel out of the elevator and not the floor of the Mayor's office. "Bye!" She added with a sarcastically sweet yet evil smile on her face as the doors to the elevator shut in front of her.

Dipper got up and looked around. There was the burgundy and gold eagle of the flag of Panem in the back of the office against the desk of Raul Northwest. The crest of District 7, with the main industry of the district, lumber, written under it was carved into the front of the desk. It was sitting on a carpet of deep green and brown plaid. Looking out the window, Dipper could tell that this office was much nicer than how most of the people in District 7 lived. Mabel got up and simply sat in the chair in front of the Mayor's desk looking out the window and sighed. This whole incident with the Reaping robbed her of her trademark silliness. When she had met Maple she was starting to fall back into herself. Maple had reassured her that there was little chance that she would be chosen. Mabel was only 12 and had only one entry, just like Maple had. She had told her that there were plenty of kids with more chances than her. The odds were not in her favor however. With her bad luck, not only was she being thrust into the arena but Dipper volunteered to go with her to the slaughter.

"Ah! So here are the twins making such a commotion in District 7!" Raul said, his breath smelling strongly of Tillamook Cheese.

"Mabel!" Maple said running up to her new best friend. "I'll be sure to have all four of my older brothers and sisters pool their money to sponsor you. Cyprus owes me big for keeping his secrets from Dad."

"Awwwwww…." Mabel said tears pouring in her eyes. "Can you make sure my brother gets sponsors too? They help you right?"

"Yeah, I can do that. And they help you A LOT." Maple said. "They help by buying you stuff you need to help you win."

"Thanks Maple." Mabel smiled. "You are as sweet as the syrup that bares your name."

"Awwww…." Maple smiled giving Mabel a hug.

"Maple, Sequoia, Cypress, Hemlock…" Dipper started. "Why are so many people here named after trees?"

"Trees make lumber and paper, the backbone industries for District 7's economy." Raul explained. "It's a common practice in many Districts in Panem to name people after what is valuable. I mean not everyone does it, but it has become tradition in a way to celebrate having an economy. I mean Panem rose from the ashes of the economic turmoil that helped to devastate what used to be the United States."

"Oh. Well that makes sense…I guess…" Dipper said putting his hand behind his back. It felt weird hearing about events that he hadn't seen yet in the past tense. He knew the United States wasn't in the best of fiscal shape when the incident with the time machine happened, but he didn't think it would cause the devastation of the nation.

"A Miss Sequoia Corduroy is here to see you. She says she is your cousin?" A Peacekeeper at the door said.

"Send her in. Our time here is up anyway. Let Sequoia have some final moments with her family." Mayor Northwest said, guiding Maple out of the room with him.

"Dipper! Mabel!" Sequoia cried, tears flowing over her freckles and red hair. "I never thought all this was going to happen!" She bent down and hugged the twins close to her. "I normally can hardly stand to watch but this year I am going to be glued to the set, making sure you are okay!" She cried, wiping her eyes on Mabel's sweater.

Maple noticed this moment was rather personal, so she went to her father and tugged on his coat. "Dad, let's get out of here NOW. Let's leave Sequoia alone. She's having a hard time saying good-bye to her cousins."

"I agree Maple. I remember how she was when her sister Valerie was Reaped and then killed. She's oh so sensitive about the Games now." Raul said heading out the door. Maple waved to Mabel as she left mouthing, 'good luck' to her.

When the Mayor and Maple left Sequoia turned to the Peacekeeper, a rookie and said, "Can you please look away from us, as this is a FAMILY matter?"

"Oh." The Peacekeeper said looking away.

Sequoia looked over her shoulder and turned back to Dipper and Mabel, "Now that that fool is ignoring us, I'll give you some tips. Mabel, take the time machine as your token. Say it is an old family heirloom or something and then team up with the Tributes from District 3. Who knows, they may be able to fix it. Listen to Blight and Johanna, they didn't win and become Victors for nothing. I knew Blight in school. He's a few years older than me but I knew if anyone could win, he could. Johanna, she's just clever and determined. Half of District 7 didn't know she had it in her but she did. Mabel, you may learn a lot from her. You two are a lot alike." Sequoia said crying.

"I will do that." Mabel said. "Despite her hair…" Mabel said thinking of Johanna's spiky hair.

"I'm sure Blight and Johanna will be great teachers." Dipper said, patting Sequoia on the back. It was almost like trying to comfort Wendy back in his home time. They were so much alike that it kind of scared Dipper. Sequoia looked a lot like the pictures he saw of Wendy when she was in her 30's. He had seen the pictures of Wendy at the same age as Sequoia at the Shack and it pained him to know he could not be there with Wendy. Now when he was getting close to Sequoia, he had to go into the Hunger Games arena to protect Mabel. All he wanted was to meet Sequoia's friends in District 3 and get home, let Mabel win Waddles and forget all this ever happened. Maybe he could even prevent it somehow, knowing what the future held. Stroking Sequoia's vibrant red hair, he swore to himself that he was going to fight with everything he had to save Mabel and if for some god-forsaken reason Mabel was killed, he was going to win, get the time machine fixed and prevent them from ending up in Panem in the first place.

"We'll make an alliance with the Tributes from District 3." Mabel said. "Who knows, maybe all that is wrong with this thing is something simple." She said trying to pry the tape measure out of the casing.

"Yeah Sequoia," Dipper said. "We'll get through this."

"Oh you guys! You are so sweet!" Sequoia said hugging the twins. She then reached behind her neck and unhooked an old gold chain from around her neck. "Take this." Sequoia said placing the chain on Dipper's neck. "This was your Grunkle Stan's that he gave to Wendy and it has been passed through the years to the heirs of the Mystery Shack. I think it should be your token. Mabel, you should use the time machine."

"Will do!" Mabel said saluting.

"Good." Sequoia said. "I have faith in you guys. I know you faced some pretty bad stuff and came out okay."

A knock was then heard at the door. The Peacekeepers were at the door, signaling that the time was up. A team of Peacekeepers them came in to lead Dipper and Mabel to the train station to go to the Capitol. Just outside the Justice Building, Johanna and Blight were waiting for their new Tributes. Neither one of them looked real thrilled over having the job as Mentor. It may have been Johanna's attitude or her spiky hair, but Mabel was confused exactly how Sequoia saw a similarity between the two of them, but she decided to just go with it. If nothing else, Johanna looked like she could kick some serious butt and teach her a few things.

"Let's go you two." Johanna said. "Blight here is a man of few words but he sure helped me last year. At least he isn't some pathetic drunk like the District 12 mentor Haymitch."

"That you know of…" Dipper mumbled under his breath when he saw Blight take a sip out of a hip flask.

"We're heading to the train station." Blight said simply. "There you will meet your prep teams for your appearance in the Capitol."

"Prep teams?" Mabel asked as she followed Blight and Johanna.

"Yeah, prep teams. You see the Capitol is filled with these weirdoes who do all these crazy things to themselves and for some reason think that a Tribute from a district like 7 need to be all prepped up and dolled up like them. As you saw with Muffie there, they wear the weirdest things and they model the clothes the Tributes wear after the industry of the District. Which here is lumber, so you will have very treeie outfits on. The designer does the same thing YEAR AFTER YEAR." Johanna said as they got on the road that led up to the train station. "And the old fool's been designing the clothes for District 7's Tributes since these Games began. I think he's going senile honestly…" Johanna said as they walked up the road to the train station.

Dipper and Mabel followed Blight and Johanna to the train station and onto the train waiting for them to go east to the Rocky Mountains which held the Capitol about where the old American city of Denver used to be. Blight opened the door to which Dipper followed then Johanna who had taken Mabel by the hand and kept going on about how she had the inner strength that she knew Mabel had in her, that she could just see it. They were dragged down the cars to a dining car that was filled to the brim with delicious and extravagant food. There were piles of steak and lamb, mountains of chicken and peas and a whole table filled to the brim with all sorts of cakes and pies. Mabel broke free of Johanna's strong grip and looked over at the cakes, reaching up to grab one when Muffie smacked her like a parent would scold a small child.

"No, no, no, you must get changed out of those silly rags," Muffie said pointing to Mabel's sweater and skirt "and be properly dressed for dinner. You cannot be seen like that."

Mabel rubbed her hand and could not help but feel what Johanna and Dipper did towards Muffie. Blight led them to their rooms, one for each of them, and told them to get changed. Each room had a dresser full of clothes for them to wear that Muffie could not say too much about. Mabel came out with a sparkly gold sweater and simple black skirt and Dipper, while still wearing his hat, came out with a red dress shirt and black dress pants on and headed to dinner. "That creepy tree lady can't say anything about this!" Dipper said.

"Oh Muffie'll find something. She wanted to represent District 1 but got stuck with 7, which she thinks is beneath her." Blight said.

"I want to hit her so bad…" Johanna said wearing a pair of black boots, black cargo pants and a brown vest.

They headed down back to the dining car and began to take food and sit down and eat. As Blight predicted, Muffie had nothing but disdain for Dipper and Mabel's choices of outfits and commented that people in District 7 never really did know how to dress and that Mabel's sweater was nothing but silliness. Mabel took that comment as a compliment which led to more sarcastic comments from Muffie and a look of rage grow on Johanna's face more and more. She began to take her peas and flick them at Muffie every time she made a derogatory comment on how Mabel chose to dress.

"I like you Mabel." Johanna said. "No way am I going to let this prick ruin your sense of style for you. It is so much better than any of the ones I have seen out of these fools."

"Thanks." Mabel said. _Maybe with Mentors like this, I may be able to win this!_ Mabel thought as she went over to the dessert table and loaded up on cakes. She placed her hand on strawberry shortcake that someone else had grabbed.

"Oh sorry young miss…" An old voice said. "You can have it."

"Thank you!" Mabel said picking up the cake. She looked up at the man and noticed he had multi-colored rhinestones on his face. She took the plate and headed over to where Dipper was still eating his steak. "Look at him!"

"What?" Dipper asked.

"That guy bedazzled his face! I told you I was unappreciated in my time!" Mabel said.

"Wow, Johanna was right, these people do do the silliest things…" Dipper said.

**Well how was that? Good? Bad? Sad? You feel bad for Sequoia there? Let me know in a review. I actually had this idea form when I was reading ****The Hunger Games**** and saw where Mabel bedazzled her face and was reminded of some of the styles of the Capitol. I would think Mabel would like them a little better if they weren't such jerks. Anyway, remember to read, well you just did, and to review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm.**

**PS: Be sure to check out my other works. I have plenty of fics of all different kinds you may like, so be sure to read them and review. Shameless self-promotion aside, see you later.**

**PPS: Check out Dr-Lovekill's works too. (He's in my favorite authors if you need to find him) You will be sure to love them. He needs a little encouragement before he puts up a new Gravity Falls story of his. Don't tell him who sent you though. Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own the Hunger Games serious or Gravity Falls okay? I know I have a few other fics people would like me to update, but I had an idea to work on this chapter and I began to work on it. Well I have the next chapter up and I want to get it going. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"Over here you two!" Muffie said walking to the table. She sat down in between Blight and Johanna and across from where Dipper and Mabel were to sit. At the head of the table was the elderly designer of District 7. "We are lucky to have this year our designer named Carlock. He has been lucky enough to get time off to come with us to see the Reaping in this District." Muffie added.

"Why it was my pleasure Muffie. Never thought I would see one this interesting." Carlock said as he took a spoonful of lamb stew and put it in his mouth. "And the talk from the Capitol! My word, are the people talking!"

"What are they saying" Johanna said as she placed a fork in her hand in a menacing fashion. "It had better not be anything bad about Mabel!" She added looking at Carlock with a death glare.

"Oh no, no, no, it is nothing bad!" Carlock said holding his hands up in a defensive manner. "They are just all abuzz about little Dipper here volunteering to look after his twin sister. They find it so sweet and yet so tragic. My friend Portia was so upset and so touched."

Dipper blushed and went back to his stew. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. Apparently the people in the Capitol were touched by Dipper's selfless and noble action but they still enjoyed seeing kids from the ages 12-18 to an arena to kill each other. _You would think that if they thought my act was touching, they would not stand for something like these Hunger Games…._Dipper thought. When Carlock told them about Dipper and Mabel's new found popularity in the Capitol, Johanna did a fist pump in celebration while Blight just simply cracked a smile.

"What's so exciting about us being so popular in the Capitol? Does that help us in any way?" Mabel asked as she put a plum from the lamb stew in her mouth.

"Well those saps in the Capitol will kick in the mega bucks to sponsor you two. Heck a few years ago Finnick, a really popular Tribute from District4 got a trident, a really good one too." Johanna said callously picking her teeth.

Trying to change the subject and get a better idea of their possible completion, Mabel looked at Johanna and said, "Why would a Tribute from District 4 get a trident?"

"They fish and he had a lot of use in it before they go to the games. That and the kids there train for these things before they can walk, even though it is against the rules. Careers are what we call them and they are from Districts 1, 2 and 4." Blight explained.

"Although that Annie chick only won because she was the best swimmer and the arena was flooded." Johanna said popping a roll in her mouth.

"Well, if you will excuse me, I have to tweak my designs for the parade costumes. What I have sketched out will not work for these two little darlings." Carlock said fluffing Dipper and Mabel's hair. "Normally District 7 has much older Tributes."

When Carlock headed back to his car, Muffie suggested that Mabel and Dipper see the other Tributes' Reapings to get an idea of their competition from the other Districts. District 1 had two volunteers, a large blonde boy who looked to be about 17 years old and a skinny, tall girl who was also about 17 who looked as if her looks and her fingernails alone could kill. The Tributes from District 2 were similar, except they both had a large and stalky build to them at looked as if they could uproot a tree and turn that into their weapons. When the Tributes from District 3 were being shown, Dipper and Mabel went closer to the television screen. This was to be the boy and girl that Sequoia said they were to make out an alliance with. Looking at the City Center in the footage, Dipper took Mabel's sweater and tugged at it.

"Does that area look familiar?" Dipper whispered.

"Our old home in California became District 3!" Mabel yelled in a whisper. Having spent most of their childhood in Silicon Valley, where their parents worked at the tech giants in the area, they knew what it looked like well.

There on the stage stood a dark man named Beetee and the fellow mentor, a woman named Wiress. First the coordinator for District 3, a man wearing a costume that looked like a lightning bolt, pulled out the name of the girl who was named Whyfy Gates. Whyfy was a girl, about 15 years old with pasty skin, stringy brown hair and wore thick glasses that looked like she learned nothing but programming and networking all her life. The next name called was a 16 year-old boy with black peach fuzz on his face. He was named Nikola Jobs and he looked a lot like he was installing the wires as to making the programs, but he did look very smart. However, he did look like he was not going to help anyone but himself. Whyfy did look like she was willing to help if someone could help her. Mabel thought quickly about how Sequoia said she was good with an ax, and then she knew she was going to have to practice more with the ax so she could help out Whyfy. Mabel wanted to protect her, a lot like Dipper wanted to protect her and she knew she would have to work on her ax skills if Whyfy could fix their time machine. She didn't know if Nikola would be a willing ally, but Mabel was not concerned. She had happened to get a tough biker to befriend her and play with her paper fortune teller.

"We have to team up with those two." Dipper said, a little louder than he would have liked to.

"District 3's Tributes! Nice one!" Johanna laughed. "I won all by myself."

"Yeah, but we aren't all you." Blight said. "You have to admit that these two seem scared out of their mind. They are only 12 and weren't betting that they would ever be picked to be a Tribute. I would recommend alliances for them. But I agree, why District 3?"

"I feel some sort of connection." Mabel said. She knew she couldn't tell them that she needed a time machine fixed. "Like me and Whyfy would get along."

"Yeah, and I want to get into Nikola's mind. He looks like he can help me come up with some good traps." Dipper said.

"Meh." Johanna said. "I do want to show Mabel a few things before Carlock gets ahold of her. You two won't have to go through the freaking hell I had to for the parade, what with you two being so young, but it is going to be something that is outrageous."

"Can't we wait until we see the rest of the Tributes?" Mabel pleaded. Johanna scared her a little bit and her newfound affinity for her just made Mabel a little more nervous. Her brash attitude had unnerved her, even though she had gotten along with bikers and men like Manly Dan.

Johanna let go of Mabel's arm and sighed. "I guess so. You two need to know who the hell you are going to be up against anyway."

Johanna sat down beside Blight and sighed as Mabel sat beside Dipper and continued to watch the other District's Reaping Ceremonies. In Districts 4 and 5, the Reapings were uneventful, but Dipper kept a close eye on each Tribute and tried to assess them in his mind. Eventually, the footage got to District 7 and Mabel knew that even though she had to stay there, she could not watch. Pulling her sweater up over her head, she went back into Sweatertown and ignored the footage and hummed loudly to herself. Dipper overheard her humming and held her close. He stroked her arm in a comforting manner. Dipper pulled his hat over his eyes and began to cry. It wasn't until he actually saw Mabel break like she did and saw the Reaping ceremony on the television that the weight of the situation actually began to hit him. His selfishness had caused them to be in this situation.

"I am so sorry Mabel. I know I said this many times before, but I cannot stop apologizing for what I have done." Dipper said as the other Districts started to play before them.

"No, I am the one who should be sorry." Mabel said peeking out of Sweatertown. "I am the one who broke the time machine. I was so mad that I did things I should not have."

"But I am the one who started this all." Dipper said.

The train then pulled to a stop at a station in the Capitol. Where the Capitol was where Denver, Colorado used to be, the trip on a bullet train was a very fast one. Oregon was just a little over a day's drive, so the ride took only about half a day. Mabel feebly got up and followed Muffie and Johanna out of the train. Muffie had kept going on about fashions she had wanted to see if they were still in style in the Capitol and see if they could make them more like Carlock's famous tree designs. Muffie was proud of District 7 and wanted to show the influences of it in everything she wore. Normally, Mabel would have been very interested in what Muffie was wearing as it was even sillier than what she normally would have worn. Mabel walked down the road, holding Johanna's hand looking at all the people that lived in the Capitol.

"Okay….so puffy pink poodles are in now. That's stupid." Johanna said.

"I don't think it is stupid…." Mabel muttered to herself.

Dipper walked behind Blight, trying to get more information about what the Hunger Games were all about and his days in the arena. "You see young man, the arena changes you. You may want to go in to protect your sister, and that is fine, but when it comes down to it, sides of you come out that you never knew you had in you. I still have nightmares of what I had to do in the arena, and that was over 20 years ago son." Blight said.

"And how old were you at the time?" Dipper asked, hoping that Blight was 12 or 13 at the time and through luck and force of will he got through it.

"I was 16 years old. I was slated to become a hooker, the man who ties the chain around the tree," Blight added at the look on Dipper's face. "I had shown great aptitude for it, even while I was still in school. They had selected me to have a job, before I graduated high school. It was very lucky for me to do that. Many of the kids who graduate high school in District 7 have to work as camp cooks and apprentice in the sawmills and furniture stores before they can get a stable job. I had beaten out the Tribute from District 8 and then won. I can remember seeing my face in the lake where the other Tribute had drowned and seen the blood all over my face before I blacked out. I woke up in a Capitol hovercraft and noticed the doctors repairing all my injuries and actually replaced my ruptured spleen with one from another Tribute they had collected after they were killed."

"You mean you killed the person who you got your spleen transplant from?" Dipper asked looking like he was going to throw up on the marble sidewalk of the Capitol that lead from the train station to the Training center.

"Oh no, no, no," Blight said, realizing from the look on Dipper's face how horrible the story sounded. "As I am sure you know from seeing it, that the Capitol collects each dead Tribute and sends them home. Well, what they don't tell people is that they take all the vital information, blood types and such and save the bodies in case the Victor they have at the end ends up needing an organ or something. I mean they have artificial everything when it comes to organs and stuff but it is much cheaper to use a transplanted organ. Well, _fortunately_" Blight said adding an obvious note of sarcasm at his voice, "there was a 'donor' match for me. They had me on so much Morphling that I was in and out of consciousness and barely felt a thing when they put it in. I did see the doctors who operated on me take the spleen out of a dead body."

"My god!" Dipper yelled, finally throwing up on the door to the Training Center. "I didn't know that these Games were that bad!"

"Oh yeah. You wouldn't think it from what they show Panem on TV, but these things are brutal and in real life, it is a down right bloodbath. Even if you win, you lose. I would trade my house in Victor's Village and all the money it pays to have the job as a poorly paid hooker and a small camp house out in the woods living with the other loggers. All I wanted out of life was to be a lumberjack and that was taken from me." Blight said.

"Couldn't you still be a lumberjack?" Dipper asked.

"Can't have a Victor getting hurt on the job, now can Panem?" Blight said. "I tried but the Peacekeepers and that damned Delilah Gleeful keep on threatening me. So I just stay up in my house in District 7's Victor's Village throwing axes at the wall."

"I'm sorry." Dipper said.

"Don't be." Blight said. "You know how Johanna is?"

"Yeah." Dipper said.

"She was a lot like your sister there. I saw her growing up in the lumber yards with her father. She was adorable playing with the hatchets and throwing pine cones at rabbits. As bad as that sounds, she was a sweet little girl, and her act of being weak and helpless was more of the real thing than an act. I was her Mentor then and saw her looking a lot like your sister there did." Blight said, motioning to how frightened and nervous Mabel looked holding onto Johanna's hand. "I watched her go in and I saw her transform from the sweet girl whose father I knew when we were growing up, to a girl who just didn't care about anything but surviving. I hoped that would fade when we got out of the arena, but it didn't. Her father, who was the last family she ever had, died in a suspicious logging accident and that sealed her whole, 'I don't care about anyone' attitude. I just hope your sister wins."

"Why?" Dipper asked.

"Because I can tell that Johanna cares a lot about her, A LOT. If little Mabel dies in that arena, Johanna's last hope of redemption is gone forever. She just won't care and she will have no one left she loves. I can tell you this; I have never seen her care as much about anyone as she does Mabel." Blight said. "Well, we're here. Let me show you to where you are going to stay until all the other Tributes get here. The ones from 12 and 11 take the longest time, so you have time to try and get used to it all here."

As Blight and Dipper met up with Johanna and Mabel, he looked at his feet and thought about all he had seen dealing with the Games so far. He had seen Sequoia's 15 year old scars from losing her sister, he saw Blight's trauma from winning and noticed Johanna's lack of care for anyone until Mabel came into the picture, and it was because Mabel was like she used to be before she became a Victor in the Games. Muffie pressed the 7 on the clear elevator to level 7, where District 7's Tributes were to be housed until the Games began.

"Well, enjoy your stay!" Muffie said leading Dipper and Mabel into their rooms. She left muttering something about Johanna's brashness and how she needed to talk to Carlock before the night was done. She slammed the door leaving Mabel and Dipper alone.

Mabel walked over to the window and looked out over the ledge at the Capitol. Dipper walked over to her and hugged her. He knew what could happen and didn't want that to happen to her. He would rather die than see Mabel become a victim of the Games. If he could lay down his life for her, he'd be happy. "Don't ever change." Dipper said as he looked over the edge of the window.

"I won't. I love you Dipper." Mabel said.

"I love you too Mabel." Dipper said. "Awkward sibling hug?"

"Awkward sibling hug." Mabel said wrapping her arms around her brother.

"PAT PAT" They said as they turned back to the window.

_I vow to protect her. Make friends with Nikola and anyone who can help us and get us back home. I don't want Mabel to be a victim of the torture Panem does to its people. We get back; we can work to prevent this._ Dipper thought as he followed Mabel to the couch and sat down beside her on it, ready to help keep the peace and keep her focused on training to win.

**How was that? Good? Bad? Corny? Disturbing what happened to Blight? Let me know in a review. I am working on my multi-chapter Naruto fics now and I am working more on Taboo. Next chapter is going to be the parade and you will see Dipper and Mabel's outfits. I drew them out and I think they are adorable. Well, remember to read, well you just did, and review. Ciao for now, **

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Gravity Falls or the Hunger Games series okay? I love the response I am getting to this so I am going to work on this as much as I can. There are some scenes that may sound like Pinecest, but they are just sibling love. I know most of you will see that but there are some messed up people out there who will take it the wrong way. Well, I don't have too much to say here, so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Mabel lay in bed that night frightened and waking up from horrible nightmares. She kept dreaming and having visions of Dipper being stabbed by a faceless Tribute with a big, shiny and sharp sword. The nightmares that were not of Dipper's death, Mabel kept dreaming of the various things that the Tributes from the other Districts would do to her. A boy in a cowboy hat from District 10 kept attacking her with butcher's knives. A girl from District 4 kept drowning her in another dream and yet in another a District 12 Tribute struck a pickaxe in her back. All these things kept awaking her in her dreams. She left the big fluffy bed, with a green goose down comforter with a brown pine tree on it that the Capitol had provided for her in her room and headed to the couch where Dipper was sleeping and curled up next to him and held him close, knowing full well that it could be the last time she ever did that.

Dipper felt Mabel wrap her arm around him. He was having similar nightmares that woke him up as often as the ones Mabel was having. His were of Wendy flying away from him and Mabel was helping him run to her. This was keeping up until she fell over dead from exhaustion. Then he was staring at Mabel's dead body crying that he was sorry and that it was his fault and all she did was want to help him. Then Grunkle Stan appeared and was telling him that he had to live with the guilt of what he did for the rest of his life. Dipper kept trying to escape the pain, by doing so many dangerous things, but he couldn't. Tears flowed from his face forming a pool. He looked down into it and he was growing older. All that time, Mabel's ghost was following him and haunting him. He woke up and saw Mabel sleeping beside him on the couch. _Oh good, she's still alive…_ Dipper thought as he looked over at Mabel and saw she was sleeping with a smile on her face, which had been race since they found themselves in the future.

Since this was the day the Tributes from the farter eastern Districts would be coming in, they had the day to themselves. Muffie said she had things to tend to in the Capitol. Johanna had said that it was really just a day for her to go shopping for fashionable items she couldn't get back in District 7. Blight had told Dipper and Mabel to meet him and Johanna on the rooftop garden after dinner that night. The only sleep that Dipper and Mabel cold get was during the day when they were holding onto each other. Dipper had moved into the bed with Mabel, where there was more room for the both of them to sleep. Anytime Mabel would have another disturbing nightmare, he would comfort her until she went back to sleep. However, this was no mere monster; this was dreams of guilt and death that was very real. They both knew that one or both of them was not going to be coming back alive. Mabel had told Dipper that she would have been happy living with Sequoia if they had to, but this was before they were Reaped for the Hunger Games. Now each moment together was precious. That evening, a knock was heard at the door.

"You have to get ready for dinner you two!" Johanna said

"I guess we have to get up and get ready…" Mabel said as she got up and headed to the shower to clean up.

"Yeah, I'm going to head to my room so I can clean up too." Dipper said. "I will be over there if you need anything."

"I just appreciate you staying her for me…" Mabel said as she turned on the shower. "You should try the cotton candy bubbles. They smell really nice."

"Yeah, I like the pine tree one… with the grape soda one…" Dipper said. The scents were ones that reminded him of back in Gravity Falls. The whole region smelled like pine trees, what being in the middle of Oregon and the grape soda scent reminded him of Wendy and Sequoia. It seemed that Corduroy women loved body spays that smelled a lot like grape soda. It was as if he could hold onto something comforting and familiar, he could have the strength and willpower to protect Mabel and get back alive. He cleaned up and put a clean shirt and pants on and his hat and waited for Mabel outside her room. She came out in a pink dress with a sweater with the Panem flag on it.

"Why are you wearing that?" Dipper asked looking at Mabel's peculiar choice in sweater. "That's the flag of the people who want us to kill each other!"

"Meh was the cutest one I could find. Actually, it was the first one I grabbed…." Mabel said. She looked down at her feet, hiding the changing personality she was feeling.

They headed down to the dining room and sat down. Blight placed plates down in front of Dipper and Mabel with an encouraging and hopeful smile. "Here you two, eat some of this. Johanna wants some axe practice before tomorrow. Tomorrow is the parade and you know we will have no time for anything of real use then."

"The parade is not of real use?!" Muffie said with a note of outrage. "It shows you off to all of the Capitol and Panem and gets you sponsors!"

"And I had to do it all myself last year you bitch!" Johanna said throwing a fork at Muffie.

"Well I never! Besides, these two won't have to. They aren't seen as you are." Muffie said with a snobbish 'humph' at Johanna's direction. "Besides, Carlock has been working day and night on his new designs. He is usually known for making natural designs with sex appeal but he cannot do that with these two 12 year olds. He said he needed to make them more adorable." Muffie explained.

Dipper placed his head on the table at what Muffie was saying. He actually wanted to join Johanna in throwing a fork at her. "Is the only thing she cares about is clothes and cuteness?" Dipper asked.

"Yes." Johanna said simply. She took a deep breath and a swig of her drink and sat it down.

They ate the rest of their dinner in semi-silence as Muffie would not stop talking about the parade. Mabel finished her dinner and stared at the table. Dipper had looked over at her and knew she was finished eating, so he pushed his plate away and waited for Johanna and Blight to finish eating as well. Johanna pushed her plate away and headed to the kitchen where she gathered a sack of rolling pins and motioned for Blight, Dipper and Mabel to follow her.

"Okay kids, Johanna is ready to show you two her secret to how she won last year." Blight said. "We're heading to the rooftop garden."

Dipper looked at the sack filled with rolling pins. "She won with a rolling pin?" He asked raising his eyebrows. "What lethal damage could a rolling pin do?"

"Oh shut up you little brat." Johanna said smacking Dipper's hat off his head. "Since we don't have the real things, we can use these as they are the same weight and balanced a lot alike the axes in the Games. You are going to get your ax training with these."

"Sequoia taught us a lot about that already." Dipper said. "Besides, isn't it against the rules to train before we are supposed to officially?"

"Rules shmules." Johanna said. "Everyone breaks the rules. Rules only give an illusion of order to the stupid in Panem. Which is a lot…" She led them up to the garden on the roof where two scarecrows were standing. One looked like a horrible and poor effigy of Muffie and the other a poor effigy of Carlock that were set across the garden. "No one ever comes up here, so no one will care that I am using rolling pins to teach you two how to fight." Johanna smiled giving Dipper and Mabel a rolling pin.

Dipper rolled the pin in his hand wondering what the heck was going to go on in this training. This seemed like some weird kung fu movie training ritual. Looking again at the scarecrows, he noticed how much they looked like Muffie and Carlock and he could tell that Johanna was the one who made them. Her outburst at Muffie and snide comments about Carlock were enough to give away that she did not like them one bit. "Why did you make them look like Muffie and Carlock?" Dipper asked.

"Because I hate those fucking assholes." Johanna said. "Muffie couldn't get anyone to help Blight help me last year and Carlock made me look like a porn star and a tree got into designing clothes."

"Say what?" Mabel asked.

"Oh yeah, where I was 17 when I was in the games, I was fair game to be nearly nude. I am sure that he will show you the fate you were almost forced to. Carlock is very proud of that one he does it nearly every year and he won't hardly change it." Johanna explained. "But the Capitol is not one for child pornography, so he had to work something cute for you two."

"Okay…" Mabel said. As if the Capitol was not creepy enough to her, they were a bunch of perverts that thought they were cute.

"Enough of how your age keeps clothes on," Johanna said, "okay Dipper, I want you to go for the Muffie scarecrow and Mabel, go for the Carlock one. Take your rolling pins, hold them like this," She motioned with a rolling pin of her own on the proper way to throw an ax. "Aim and now throw."

Dipper threw his with all his effort, but hardly made a difference in the appearance of the Muffie scarecrow. Then Mabel threw hers and it hit the same mark on the Carlock scarecrow on the head causing it to fall off onto the ground.

"Nice one Mabel!" Johanna said giving Mabel an affectionate noogie. "I knew this girl was going to be my protégé!"

"Awww thanks!" Mabel said. "I just pretend that the dummy was going to hurt Dipper and I threw. Sequoia said I was pretty good at using axes too."

"Yeah…" Dipper said. He was embarrassed that Mabel was doing better than him with the ax throwing.

"Don't feel bad Dipper, I can be the one to defend you!" Mabel said giving Dipper a hug.

"Okay, now what I want you guys to do is, only hitting the arms and legs, take off them from the scarecrows." Johanna said. "I need to see what you can do with the hand to hand combat." Mabel had eventually weakened her scarecrow to pieces and Dipper's was left on, but only by a few threads. Blight had walked over from his observation of their performance under Johanna's supervision. He didn't want either one of the twins, Dipper or Mabel to be one of the first victims in the bloodbath. He knew that Johanna, while she was blunt and sarcastic, was a good teacher for people who wanted to know how to fight.

"Okay, here is my verdict on the whole situation. Mabel, even though she does not look like it at all, no offense, can fight." Blight said. He saw Dipper look down at his feet. "Don't feel so bad Dipper. You're a bright kid. Don't think that you can't use that at all. Most of the time, strategy is as, if not more valuable than strength in these games. I have seen many a strong Tribute get killed off right away because they had very poor strategy."

"With you two working together, you will be a force to contend with." Johanna said.

"That's good." Mabel said.

The next day after breakfast, Mabel and Dipper were rushed to a room to get prepared for the parade. Where they were so young, the beauty team was not too apt to put too much make up and accessories on either one of them. Carlock told his prep team for the twins that he wanted to preserve their innocence and young appeal that had made them such the sensation they were in the Capitol. A man in a bunch of snowflakes and blue hair came in and took Dipper to a salon where they cleaned his hair and slicked it into his face. Meanwhile, Mabel's hair was washed and braided into a set of ponytails while two girls had painted each one of her fingernails with different leaves on them.

"Hey Dipper look!" Mabel said showing Dipper her newly painted nails. "Aren't they cool?"

"Yeah…" Dipper said as he stared at the door, waiting for Carlock to come in and show them what they were going to be wearing in the parade. If what Johanna said was true, then he was going to be embarrassed beyond belief.

The door opened and Carlock walked in with two Avoxes pushing mannequins that were carrying a dress and a lumberjack outfit. It was clear which ones were meant for whom. "Ah, I have never worked so hard in my life! I had to totally reinvent my design for you two. Most of the time District 7 has Tributes that are between 16-18 and the outfits I usually make are for that age group. But the Capitol is finding you two so cute, so I have to make you two cute. Here you go little Miss Mabel." He took the dress off the mannequin and gave it to her. It was an ankle length dress with tan and brown pleats in the skirt and a light green band around the high waist and a green top with fake leaves around the shoulders like a princess dress would be.

"It's nice." Mabel said as she put the dress on.

"And in keeping with the lumber theme, I made Dipper here a young lumberjack's outfit." Carlock said as he handed Dipper a pair of brown pants, a green and brown plaid flannel shirt with blue suspenders.

"What's up with the blue suspenders?" Dipper asked.

"Match your hat." Carlock said. "That is something that is being copied all over the Capitol. They think it is just so cute. I have seen women get their hair dyed in the pattern of the hat and dresses made like it and even a sweater like the ones Mabel likes made like that. You are the little darlings of these Games and I am going to make all of Panem dote all over you two in the District 7 way. But first I have to show you what I would have done if you two were older. I love it so much." He then pulled out a sketch that showed a girl with a tree going up from her vagina to breasts, with the tree's leaves covering them and the boy was wearing the same thing. The only difference was the thin green fabric that made the dress of the girl's outfit.

"Wow…" Mabel said blushing. "Is there some shoes with this outfit?"

"Yes, I got you two matching pairs of logging boots. It pulls the whole District 7 lumber thing together. You are a little tree princess." Carlock said to Mabel putting a green headband on her head and a pearl necklace with a blue tree on it. "And you are her brother the lumberjack." Carlock said to Dipper.

"Okay…" Dipper said. "Why would a tree princess be brothers with a lumberjack anyway?"

"Symbolize the Games. Trees and lumberjacks are enemies anyway." Carlock said with a smile.

_These people are messed up…._ Dipper thought as he looked at himself in the mirror and thought about what Carlock said.

**So how was that? Good? Bad? Boring? Let me know in a review. The next chapter will feature the parade and training center so be sure to look at that, and there you will get more insight on the other Tributes and see if Nikola and Whyfy end up allying at this point with Dipper and Mabel. I don't have too much to say here, so ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm. **


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own Gravity Falls or the Hunger Games series okay? I am sorry for the long wait on update on this one, writer's block and a bunch of stuff happening in my life just kind of stalled it a little. But never fear, I will get this done. But hey, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

"I think I have outdone myself!" Carlock said as he guided Dipper and Mabel to the chariots for the Parade through the Capitol. He led them into the stables where the chariots were already hooked up to horses and lined up ready to go. "Just be careful, I don't want you to get horse poop on those fabulous boots of yours."

"Horse poop?" Dipper asked looking down cautiously at his feet.

"Yes. No matter how well trained these majestic beasts are, well, nature does call and they cannot resist…" Carlock said stepping around a pile of road apples, guiding Dipper and Mabel into a stunning chariot with a "7" on the front and the crest of District 7 on the sides. The wheels were maroon along with the trim of the chariot and the spokes of the wheel and the body of the chariot were a deep goldenrod color. Dipper and Mabel stepped on and Carlock said "All I have to do is flip these reigns and they will follow the parade route."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOoooh, a parade!" Mabel said looking at the mighty Clydesdales in front of her that were to pull the chariots. She ran her hand over the chestnut hair over its side, gazing at the dark green color that the manes and tails were dyed. "The horses are so pretty!"

"Yes." Carlock said running his hand through the green dyed mane of one of the horses. "We try to get horses that best represent each district and if they don't look like it naturally, we make very small and minor changes like dying the mane and tail or putting accessories on the horses."

"That's so pretty…"Mabel said with big eyes gazing at the magnificent horses.

Even with the threat of her imminent death hanging overhead, she could not resist a cute horse. Dipper rolled his eyes and sighed as Carlock guided Mabel and Dipper onto the chariot. A stable hand came up and led the horses and the chariot to their pace in line. Mabel looked over at the other Tributes already in line and gazed upon their costumes. She didn't know if it as to make herself feel better about hers or just to see what they were wearing. The first one in line was the chariot for District 1 that was bedecked with gems and gold all along the trim and it was being pulled by two pure white Arabian stallions. Dipper looked over at the horses and assumed they were geldings as there was no way a stallion could be trained that well to do such a task with their temperament. Looking at the Tributes, the girl was in a golden dress with a tail that gave off the impression of a lioness. The boy looked over and was wearing a golden see-through body suit while wearing a faux mane that looked like it was woven from gold string itself. He pointed to Dipper and Mabel and ran his finger across his neck and then pointed to them mouthing, "I am going to kill you two first," to them. Mabel, who was reading his lips sank down in the chariot and started to shake back and forth in fear. From what Johanna and Blight were saying, District 1 tributes were to be feared, but they either didn't know or tell them that they were on the top of these tributes hit list.

As they passed the next chariot belonging to the District 2 Tributes, Dipper and Mabel looked back over at them. There were two more Career tributes that Johanna had warned them about. Many of the other tributes had watched the Reapings like they had done and they could tell that Dipper and Mabel were going to be a sensation and would have the best chance of getting the best sponsors. Sponsors were what made or broke a Tribute and all the fools in the Capitol thought Dipper and Mabel; the Twin Tributes would be sponsoring them. They looked over at the District 2 tributes and noticed they made the same threatening gesture that District 1. Mabel made herself smaller until Dipper tugged on her sleeve, "We are getting close to the chariot of the District 3 Tributes. The ones we want to team up with!" Dipper said helping Mabel up.

Dipper made a slight wave to Nikola and Whyfy, and motioned for Mabel to join him as in hopes to show them that they were to be allies and not someone to be feared. District 3 never had a good record for Tributes living very long, and they only had two prominent Victors, Beetee and Wiress. Both Nikoa and Whyfy were dressed in sparkling black outfits, her in a dress, and him in a suit with copper wire running in a festive pattern along the outfits leading to the little lights at the end of each seam. As Dipper waved, Whyfy blushed and looked away but Nikola just stared at them with no expression either way when it came to his opinion on Dipper and Mabel. While it was not what Dipper wanted, it was much better than being threatened by Tributes who thought it was some kind of sick honor to be in the Games. They passed the District 3 chariot taking solace that at least they didn't want to kill them and passed the District 4 chariot. This was a concern as well as this was the last Career District. Mabel looked from over the top of the chariot and saw them in outfits made of tight fish netting. Dipper looked over and to his surprise, even though this was a Career District, they barely acknowledged them. In a way this calmed their fears that at least District 4 tributes would not be hunting them down personally. However, there were 10 other districts that still were out to get them and the fact that they were on the tops of District 1 and 2's hit list. They were going to have to talk to Johanna about what she did as they were sure they were going to have to rely on what she did.

"You know what Blight said about Johanna last year?" Dipper asked Mabel.

"What?" She asked fiddling with the brown and tan pleating of her skirt. Mabel did like the dress, even though it was missing a sweater, but it was pretty. Yet wearing it to such an evil event was not something she did like.

"He said Johanna looked really weak from the beginning and that the other Tributes pretty much ignored her thinking that they were a waste of their time." Dipper said.

"Yeah, but was she as famous as we are?" Mabel asked. "Muffie said we made quite an impression already with the Capitol and that can make the Tributes from the other Districts much more aggressive. You saw how the Tributes from Districts 1 and 2 treated us. I mean Muffie and Carlock all assured me that we would get lots of sponsors just because they thought we were cute and you volunteering to go in and protect me was noble but unless they can get us a minigun loaded to the teeth with ammo, or maybe Grunkle Stan's ten guns, we are sure to be toast."

"Grunkle Stan had ten guns?" Dipper asked. "Never mind…but that this why we need to team up with a group of other Tributes other than just Nikola and Whyfy."

"Why?" Mabel asked. "They are all out to just kill us."

"But from what Blight was telling me, Tributes from the non-career Districts will team up and try to fight them. Many years the fiercest Career was taken down by a well-placed team of other Tributes." Dipper explained.

"But there is only one winner, which means that eventually that alliance broke down." Mabel said. "How soon would any alliance we have broken down?"

"Do you even think that the time machine can be fixed?" Dipper asked looking over at Mabel's eyes, swelling up with tears. Mabel was preparing herself mentally for the best case scenario if the time machine couldn't be fixed and that was that Dipper got back to District 7 and helped Sequoia to run the Mystery Shack. Victors got nice perks and pay and a house so he would be taken care of for life. Mabel knew deep down inside that she had no chance in these games. Johanna had her skill with an ax but there was something else she had that Mabel could not, and that was the will to kill. Johanna had killed a few Tributes and was unabashed when she told Mabel about it in hopes of trying to get her to accept the idea that she may have to kill.

"Dipper…" She began to cry "…I just honestly don't know. I mean is it even possible that it can be fixed at all? We are only teaming with District 3 because they have the most knowledge of things like computers and all that. You know, stuff they tried to teach us in school?"

"Yeah." Dipper said looking on his sister. He was only here to try and make up for the guilt he felt in his heart for making Mabel lose Waddles so he could have a chance with Wendy. It was all his selfish idea that ended up with her in a sick barbaric game fighting for her life. If either one of them was to die, he hoped that it would be him, if only to give Mabel a shot at a decent life. If she couldn't have Waddles with her, then he was going to make sure that she lived in the lap of luxury by winning these Games. "But I am sure this can be fixed. I mean the tape measure part won't even come out. Remember how we broke Grunkle Stan's tape measure?"

"Yeah, Soos fixed it with a screwdriver by prying the end open." Mabel said.

"Maybe that is all it takes…" Dipper said. "And when we get back we can prevent this stuff from happening in the first place. I mean the Shack made it through all these years, so maybe we can save Sequoia and her sister from this evil. I ripped the pages of Panem's history and placed them in my book." Dipper said showing his book he hid under his shirt. We can stop this from happening."

"Yeah…" Mabel said getting back up. "I think I was just being scared. Technology can seem complicated but it is real simple once you know how to use it."

"That's my sister!" Dipper said hugging her. "We saved you from the gnomes; you stopped Gideon from trying to kill me."

"And yet that grudge was held for all these years…." Mabel said. "Hope Delilah Gleeful doesn't scare sponsors from District 7 from helping us."

"I doubt it. They seem to respect Sequoia too much not to help us out. It seems like Delilah is only a face when there is a formal function going on. I could have sworn before the Reaping, Sequoia told Delilah to go do something foul to herself. I mean I saw Delilah gasp when Sequoia said it." Dipper said. "And Mayor Northwest seems to like us much better than Pacifica did."

"Yeah. We should have a fighting chance!" Mabel said. She still wasn't sure about getting the time machine fixed, but if one could walk away a Victor, that was just as good. She would sure like to go back and prevent Panem from being formed because the US would still be a nation and they would never go to something as barbaric as the Hunger Games. Maybe if they were lucky, Dipper would still be able to win Wendy's heart down the line and everything would work out.

The District 5 and 6 Tributes just pretty much nodded as they passed them as the chariot went into place behind District 6. The Tributes from District 5 and District 6 never have much of a chance anyway. Everyone knew the mentors in those Districts were nothing but morphling addicts anyway that spend most of the games shooting up or passed out. Deciding not to give the other 5 districts behind them anything more they could try and use against them than attacking Mabel, Dipper looked straight ahead staring at the District 6 tributes that looked like a pair of kids dressing up as a pair of train engineers. However, something about the girl from District 8 caught his eye. She was girl with hair so blonde that it nearly looked white with a blue dye streak in it. It was a rare thing to find something like that from a District citizen as to a Capitol citizen, but then Dipper remembered what Blight told them about District 8 being the textile district and that dye could have easily come from something the girl was working on or snuck home from work one day. Apparently the designer for her district had put her in a dress that made her look like a weird dressmaking mannequin while the boy was wearing a suit made out of irregular Peacekeeper uniforms. The girl kept looking at Dipper as if she was debating whether or not to kiss him or kill him. He just cast her a confused look and kept staring at the train engineers that were the District 6 Tributes. The he looked over at Mabel who had now developed a 1000-yard stare. Honestly, deep down he couldn't blame her. He feared the exact same things she did and he had the burden of being strong for her. _ I have to remain strong for her, for Mabel. It's like Sequoia said, team up with the District 3 Tributes, fix the time machine and then go the heck home. Maybe, just maybe we can work to prevent this from happening. I know what causes the collapse of the US that lead to the creation of Panem so I can set that it doesn't happen. _ Dipper thought as he picked up Mabel's hand to help her up.

"I think that girl from District 8 likes you…" Mabel laughed in an attempt to forget what she was heading to.

"I thought she was plotting my murder…" Dipper said kind of freaked out. "She gave off an aura a lot like Pacifica did…"

"Well I still think she likes you." Mabel said as the final chariot for District 12 which contained two 16 year olds from the Seam, the girl covered in black body paint with a rainbow tint that showed up in just the right light like a hunk of coal and the boy dressed like a coal miner with bright safety stripes all over his outfit as if to bring even more attention to himself passed by. Then the anthem of Panem began to play, signaling for the one of the Tributes to take the reins and follow the others though the Capitol on the parade for all of Panem.

"You take them." Dipper said to Mabel "You like these horses more than I do." It was all he could do to keep her happy for what may very well be her final moments on Earth.

"Thanks." Mabel said. Any kind of pleasure was too treasured now that their time together was shrinking ever so much so quickly.

As they left the stables, the crowd "ooohed" and "aaahhed" at all the creations the various stylists from all the Districts had been able to put on. The designs for Districts 1, 3 and 4 had gotten the best response but when Dipper and Mabel were heading down the center of the Capitol, past the Presidential Mansion where President Snow was standing, the crowd went wild. They loved how cute Carlock had made them look in their designs. He was right, cuteness was in and they were the epitome of what the Capitol had thought to be cute. Mabel looked over at the crowd, seeing the bedazzled faces and sweaters with Dipper's blue pine tree on them and pearls with pine tree charms. It was now that it sunk into to Mabel when Johanna said about these people being messed up. They modeled their fashion after what the most popular Tributes were wearing when they were Reaped. It was almost as if they wanted to be the ones who got killed. Mabel wanted to say she was the first to bedazzle their face, but she knew that there was no way they could have known and just ignored them. _If they are this dressed up like us and think our outfits are so cute and the dolls of Panem, the Twin Tributes, then they are bound to sponsor us. People in the Capitol have a lot of money and want the games to be interesting, so they would have to keep us alive._ Mabel thought as she started waving to the crowd and blowing kisses to them, playing up the drama and spectacle of the moment in hopes they could get enough sponsors to keep them alive.

"Mabel!" Dipper said. "What are you doing?"

"Winning sponsors like Johanna wants us to! They already think we are cute, work with that!" Mabel said.

"Okay…"Dipper said as he blushed and waved to the crowd. Some of the younger Capitol girls, about the ages of 10-15 were waving back at him, throwing flowers to the chariot as if they thought him to be some superhuman hero with a heart of gold. Mabel was right; they were well on their way to getting sponsors and maybe winning the Games. He didn't know which one would have to say good-bye to the other one, but Dipper knew that if they were this popular, they were sure to get the help they needed. Besides, it was nice to be loved right before they died.

"Maybe we can win this after all!" Mabel said. "I'll have to talk to Johanna more but maybe…just maybe if we IMAGINIZE IT!"

"Maybe we could." Dipper said.

**Okay, so how was that? Good? Bad? Hopeful? Scary? Let me know in a review. Once again, sorry for the wait on the update but I finally got this up. I can get to work on it some more. I got some ideas for the next chapter and I am going to start it. I have a few other stories I am working on to, so bear that in mind. Well, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Gravity Falls or the Hunger Games series okay? I am glad at such good response I got on this fic. When this started I didn't know how it would be taken. Anyway, as I am sure you don't want to hear my rambling, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Johanna looked ecstatic as she ran into the stalls towards Dipper and Mabel. Blight followed, not as fast as Johanna, with a similar look on his face. Mabel held onto the reins until the stable hand came and unhooked the chariot from the horses and led them to the stables. Dipper stepped down and headed towards Blight and Johanna. Mabel followed his lead and ran to Johanna. They had developed a bond despite their major difference in personalities.

"You two did great out there!" Johanna said hugging Mabel.

"We just stood in the chariot as the horses did most all of the work." Dipper said confused at Johanna's excitement.

"But you…how do I put this…" Blight said looking up as if the words for his explanation were written on the roof of the stable. "Charm is about fifty percent of the fight. Sure your skills depend as much on your chances of winning or not, but you need Sponsor tools. As I have said before and will until I die, it can mean life or death especially if you are sick or injured in the arena. People in the Capitol have a favorite that they want to win. By the reaction of the audience tonight, from what I've seen, you two are some of the favorites. Hell, Finnick Odair from District 4 got a trident sent to him because he was so well liked. He was the guy who won a few years before Johanna did." Blight took a swig from his flask. "Now what you need to do is get a good training score."

"Say what? Training score?" Mabel asked.

"Training. Three days where you learn and practice all the skills you can to give you a chance at winning. And certain booths there will give you a hint of what will be coming in the arena." Johanna said.

"I told you that last year and you only lucked out because it was already a lot like District 7 to begin with!" Blight said, taking offense at Johanna's attitude.

"Muffie showed me a tape of your games!" Johanna said back at Blight. "The Old Alaskan Nation or as they put it, '_The Last Frontier'_ is quite popular these days for arenas now isn't it? Better than throwing them in Death Valley anyway."

While Johanna and Bligh were bickering over what was the proper way to win and who took more skill in their Games, Muffie and Carlock came up and hugged Dipper and Mabel with huge smiles on their faces. Apparently from what Dipper could make out from the bizarre, affected, slightly forced and falsetto Capitol accents, which could be impossible to understand when the speaker was talking fast, that District 7 hardly ever had such sensational Tributes. Not even Johanna and Blight made such an impression. Carlock was being asked by women and girls all over the Capitol to make them dresses like the one Mabel wore in the Parade. Muffie was being invited to the most exclusive Capitol parties with President Snow himself in attendance. Dipper and Mabel followed a gossiping Carlock and Muffie and a still bickering Johanna and Blight to the District 7 level of the Training Center. Mabel pressed the 7 on the elevator to District 7's floor where as unnoticed as they were, Dipper and Mabel headed to Mabel's room where she pulled out a sweater and a skirt and headed to the shower to clean up.

"Dipper, get changed and come back. I want to talk to you about some of the stuff Johanna said. And to learn more about what happened. You do have the whole history of Panem now in your journal." Mabel said as she turned to Dipper.

"Yeah…" Dipper sighed. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"I never miss a thing when it comes to what you do." Mabel said slightly cheerfully that somehow creeped Dipper out.

Dipper and Mabel both cleaned up and changed into their normal clothes, as to their Parade Pageantry. Mabel was sitting on the bed when Dipper knocked on the door. "Can I come in Mabel?" He asked.

"Yes" Mabel said as Dipper walked in and sat on the bed next to her. She pulled his book from under his vest, despite his objections and looked at the pages Dipper placed in there about Panem's past. Sequoia wouldn't talk much about it, the only things about it she would talk about is the Mystery Shack's past. Mabel didn't know if it would help in the Games anyway, but she wanted to know how the world became what it is now.

"What do you want to know from there?" Dipper asked as he looked over Mabel's shoulder as she leafed through the pages of the journal.

"I want to know what happened to the country we knew." Mabel said. "I know 2013 wasn't perfect and the United States had its problems but…" Mabel looked back at Dipper with tears in her eyes. "…at least we weren't killing kids in some sick game!"

Dipper began to read from the pages of Pre-Panem history. With the election of a President that only fifty percent of the nation even cared about, states began to secede from the union a lot like they did in the 1860's before the American Civil War. At first it was poorer states that had little to no real economy of their own. The President did not act like Lincoln and set up armies to invade, but he decided to ignore them and cut them off from any kind of federal aid whatsoever for anything from social programs to disaster assistance. Some states still in the union aided them but they were treated badly by the federal government. That year proved to be devastating when hurricane season came. Thinking that these states that seceded, most of which were prone to hurricanes, would just come crawling back to the union, the President just stood by and did nothing. Meanwhile that fall a hurricane hit one of the richer states that was helping the poorer ones behind the president's back. When they asked for aid, the President denied it because they were helping the secessionist states. Then that state left the union joined the secessionists opening the door for the western states that were waiting it see what would happen. Alaska became its own nation not taking part in either side as a new civil war began that led to China invading with Russia to take the lands that they desired. No one knows who pressed The Button, many think it was a rogue nation with weak bombs but soon Russia and China fought each other leaving the former United States to itself. The civil war that was raging now made the one in the 1860's seem like child's play, no type of warfare was off limits. The war raged on for 55 years before Panem was formed. Then they had a civil war of their own called the "Dark Days" which led to the Hunger Games. Alaska was still its own nation but lent land to Panem for their Games if needed in exchange for being left alone. After hearing all this Mabel looked up at Dipper and cried, "We never learn do we?"

"Maybe because no one taught them better… Maybe we can…" Dipper said at Mabel's despondent look. "And we will. And tomorrow we will train to survive so we can go back and teach them better."

"Yeah." Mabel sighed. "And tomorrow we will learn to do that, but we need to get some rest. Training will be hard."

"Yeah." Dipper said as he lay down on the couch looking at Mabel. He sighed and placed his face in the pillow. He tried to get some sleep. He was able to close his eyes and get some sleep but images of Blight getting a transplanted organ from a Tribute that he may have killed, freighting images of the Career Tributes from Districts 1 and 2 attacking him and Mabel and the image of him holding a Mabel sickened with blood poisoning from a sword wound while back in District 7 Delilah Gleeful scaring the donors played in his mind. Dipper woke up in a startled sweat and then went back to sleep but then another image of Delilah Gleeful popped into his mind. This time she was standing in front of two plain wooden boxes that held their bodies in them while she told Sequoia of their deaths. Delilah had a fake frown on her face but even from that faux frown Dipper could tell that she was actually glad that Dipper and Mabel were dead. Dipper had not gotten much sleep, if any at all, since he arrived at the Capitol. Most the time he did sleep was when he was too tired to really dream. Any dream he did have was more of a nightmare that just woke him back up. He then heard a snore and could tell that Mabel was asleep. _How in the world can she sleep in something like this? _ Dipper thought to himself, but then he just assumed she was beyond tired and couldn't dream. She did tend to wear out quicker than he did. Being silly and hyper did not last long while they were under stress. He then picked up his journal with the 3 hand on it and began to read.

"Reading about all these beasts is really going to help us." Dipper said sarcastically to himself. "What? Are we going to be planted on some island full of gnomes, zombies and gremoblins?" He laughed at his joke and lay next to Mabel, holding her for comfort as he finally fell asleep.

The sun peeked through the windows and the stomping of a District 8 Tribute in the floor above them stirred Dipper awake. He got up, realized he had fallen asleep with his book on his chest, now crammed between him and Mabel, and turned to face her. The guilt rose up in him again. His desire for Wendy hurt her so deeply that she fought with him for the tape measure time machine and then ended up in the future in Panem and District 7. If that wasn't bad enough, it broke so they couldn't go home on their own. When they met Sequoia, she knew how she may be able to help get them home, and even if they couldn't, she would have taken good care of them. But then misfortune struck again and Mabel was reaped. Dipper went in to protect her knowing that it was all his fault that they were in Panem to begin with. He knew his time was short, and he felt like he suddenly had to grow up much much faster than anyone could ever have imagined. It was bad enough he was feeling awkward and sweaty most of the time, he now had to save Mabel even if it meant that it cost him his life. _What I really need to do is talk to someone who has been where I am now._ Dipper thought as he went into his room and took a shower. _Well maybe not exactly where I have been but…_ He then put on some clean clothes thinking about the advice he was going to need and then knew that there was a reason there was Mentors. They were there for the very reason he needed them right now. _I have to talk to Blight. I mean he was a Tribute once… _Dipper thought. He opened the door to his room and walked down the hall to the rooms here the Mentors where staying. There were two doors, one where a loud snoring was coming from and one where an intoxicating odor was coming from. He knocked on the one with the snoring and Johanna opened the door.

"What do you want you brat?" Johanna said rubbing her eyes.

"Why did you just call me a brat?" Dipper asked.

"Do you know what time it is?" Johanna said looking at Dipper with a hatred that kept growing with each second he was keeping her awake.

"No." Dipper said genuinely and apologetically. He knew that some people were ones you did not want to get them up before they were ready. He woke Grunkle Stan once early and it was not pleasant at all. In fact he had never seen Stan in such a way that reminded him of an old devil with a big nose, fez and gold chains before that.

"Well it is 5:45 IN THE FUCKING MORNING!" Johanna said as she threw the clock to Dipper. "Breakfast isn't until 8:30 and Training begins at 10:30 in the morning. Didn't you know that?"

"I did but…" Dipper said when Johanna cut him off.

"But…but…but…but nothing!" Johanna said. "You should be at least trying to get some sleep! Training is not like the actual Games, but it is hard. I know I need some."

"Sorry for waking you. I now know that the foul smelling room is Blight's and he was the one I was trying to talk to. He's much better of a Mentor than you anyway," Dipper said then covering his mouth. He was genuinely afraid of Johanna since he first saw her at the Reaping. She just gave off the air of a girl that you did not want to mess with at all. Maybe it was part of him that knew that fear was going to have to be put aside to save Mabel in the arena, maybe it was stress, maybe it was just Johanna's attitude, but Dipper was no longer going to hold back what he thought of people. It came to him what Grunkle Stan said about not holding anything back for you may be dead tomorrow. "He doesn't play favorites like you do."

"Shut up. You know deep down inside that your sister needs more help than you do." Johanna said. "You're the smartest guy I have ever seen come out of District 7. Heck, you may be on par with some of those brainiac nerds from District 3. Point is, you could come up with some ingenious thingymabob and win. And I can tell that if it ever came down to it, you could take a life. You wouldn't do it recklessly, but you could. Mabel wouldn't. You know it. I am spending more time with her than you because I hope that some of my skills and attitude rub off on her so she has a fighting chance."

Dipper looked upon Johanna with shock. She actually thought Dipper had a chance, even Victor chance on his own. It may have been her tiredness or her way of trying to prove she was as just a good a Mentor as Blight but Johanna told Dipper something that made him feel much better than he did when he knocked on her door. It made him feel a little better about his chances of protecting Mabel but it also made him realize that the Training was going to show him how much he needed to protect her. Johanna was trying to help her after all. "Wow…" Dipper said looking at his feet.

"Your sister reminds me a lot of me when I was her age." Johanna said. When she was sleep deprived she tended to be more honest and truthful on her feelings than when she had gotten a full good night's sleep. "Be weary. The arena changes you. People keep telling me that my 'fake looking weak' strategy was brilliant. Well…" Johanna bent down to Dipper's level and whispered in his ear. "You had better not tell another living soul, not even Mabel herself or I will kill you in a million ways worse than some of the Careers ever could, but I wasn't faking. Yet the one thing that separated me from Mabel was that when I was forced into it I could kill. She didn't have the life I did so I don't think that transformation would happen easily. I was at the Cornucopia, looking at the set of axes there and a Tribute from District 12 came up and tried to wrestle them from me and that was my first kill. It was then, with his blood dripping from my hands that it all changed for me and I became the animal I am now. Now if Mabel was there, the District 12 Tribute would have run off with those axes and she would be cannon fodder."

Dipper stood there and took in all of what Johanna said. With her words, a vivid image of Mabel lying on the ground, a set of axes beside her, trying to push some random kid dressed like a coal miner to show he was from District 12 off her. The he gets ahold of the axe and her blood spatters all over his face. In his mind's eye, Dipper was being held off by the District 1 Tribute who had pointed him out during the parade, screaming Mabel's name. He shuddered and then got up. "I need to talk to Blight."

"Go on ahead. He never sleeps at night. He drinks and throws axes more than he sleeps." Johanna said. "I'm going back to bed."

He went next door and knocked on Blight's door. "Blight? Mr. Blight?" He asked.

"Ugggghhhh…." Blight said getting up and Dipper could tell he was a nasty hangover. "Who is it waking me up this early?" If it's you Johanna, I'm kicking your ass."

"No it's me, Dipper, Dipper Pines." Dipper said. "I want to talk with you."

"Fine, fine." Blight said getting up. He opened the door smelling strongly of vodka and whiskey and motioned for Dipper to follow him inside. "What is it son?" He said sitting Dipper on the bed and placing a smelly hand on his shoulder.

"I'm scared Mr. Blight. I cannot sleep and I have vivid horrid images of things happening to Mabel." Dipper said.

"Please DO NOT call me 'Mr. Blight' I am too bad for that. Blight is fine." Blight said. "But please continue."

"I talked to Johanna and she said I have material to be a top Tribute but I care more about Mabel than myself. I keep thinking if I died and she lived it would work out." Dipper said, trying not to cry but failing miserably. "She doesn't deserve this. All I want is for her to live. I care about her too much."

"You know that is your greatest strength there. Sure the Careers are going to exploit that as Panem knows all about it, but it is better than anything you could hope for. Love is strong. It will help you in training. I would be worried if you weren't scared. That cockiness is why many Careers get killed off. Despite their training they are as weak as everyone else. You can do this Dipper; you are more of a man than me. The Games never leave you but you are playing to save a life. You never know your medal till it is tested. I couldn't be prouder to Mentor a Tribute like you. I will work to help you save Mabel. Johanna is too. But this isn't easy. Go back to bed and train hard." Blight said shoving Dipper out of the room.

Dipper walked back to Mabel's room and went back to sleep knowing now what Johanna and Blight meant about his love for Mabel being his greatest strength.

**So how was that? Good? Bad? Sappy? I know some of the images here were violent but hey, it's the Hunger Games. I know the action is lacking but next chapter should have some. Training and all. Anyway, remember to read, well you just did and to review. Ciao for now,**

**Otherrealmwriter**

**Aka**

**Realm**

**PS: Be sure to check out my other Gravity Falls and Hunger Games fics. Thanks. **


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